Category: personal

Why is the word “feminist” triggering? Disappointing realizations.

On By benebellIn I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), opinion, personal, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism26 Comments

So I posted this video yesterday:

When I made this video, I genuinely did not think there’d be anything controversial about it. I will even continue the assumption now and say that if you actually watch it in the entirety, you, too, would not reach the conclusion that it’s trying to be anti-male. Nor will you find it laced with any ulterior motive of gender politics.

Heck, now in retrospect, I probably could have titled the video “Tao Te Ching & the Divine Feminine.” Right? It’s just that I have a complicated relationship with the concept of “divine feminine” hence I went with “feminist metaphysics.”

Within hours of its posting, I received the following comments:

This blog post starts with my reaction to the above responses, but then I’ll go off on a tangent to share some unfiltered ramblings with respect to Eurocentric Taoism and cultural appropriation.

Continue reading “Why is the word “feminist” triggering? Disappointing realizations.” →

Nine Years on TarotTube/Pagan YouTube

On By benebellIn opinion, personal, tarot community22 Comments
Fun fact: That blue-toned banner of mountains was taken in Miaoli, Taiwan, from my ancestral lands. ❤

The very first video I posted to YouTube was in October, 2014. It’s been 9 years. And I thought I’d take a pause from regularly scheduled programming to reflect on those 9 years.

To do so, I’m combining several TarotTube or Pagan Youtube (Occult Tube?) community tags on the subject. If you loiter in any of those networks then you may have seen some. I’m going to do my response as a blog post. And I think that in and of itself probably says something.

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#54321Tarot

On By benebellIn book review, cartomancy, deck review, divination, personal, personal spirituality, promotional, tarot, tarot community7 Comments
The selfie function is hard. I never know where to look…

This is a TarotTube tag started by @Kelly Bear but I’ll be participating via blog post. =) I was tagged by the lovely and precocious @JessReadsCards. The prompt is to share 5 tarot decks, 4 tarot books, 3 tarot spreads, 2 tarot reader habits or tarot reading paraphernalia, and 1 piece of advice (or alternatively, 1 tarot card you’d like to embody).

Ack. You can see my Invisalign attachments in the above photo. And of course now that I called it out, it went from 50% chance you’d see it to 100% chance you’ll see it. Also, shameless off-topic plug for my new book, I Ching, The Oracle. The first few months after an author has released a book, you’re just gonna have to brace yourself for a lot of promo. =D

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Six of Swords WIP: Please halp with composition ideas…

On By benebellIn Etteilla Tarot, personal, tarot, tarot card meanings25 Comments

I’m struggling with swords placement in my Six of Swords wip. In fact, there’s a lot to this illustration composition that I’m struggling with. Maybe you’ll have some suggestions on what I can do.

I’ll start from the beginning. I knew I wanted to play with the religion and science dynamic in the Six of Swords, and my ambition was to do that in a way that isn’t too cliche.

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Author’s Thoughts After Three Books

On By benebellIn I Ching The Oracle (book), opinion, personal8 Comments

Posted an author unboxing (actually no, it’s not really an unboxing) and first impressions (is it a first impressions?) of my third book, I Ching, The Oracle.

Then decided to swing by over here on my blog to repost and share some additional personal ruminations. Here are some of my thoughts and reflections after publishing three books.

Holistic Tarot debuted in 2015, then The Tao of Craft came out in 2016. I didn’t publish another book until 7 years later, 2023.

There’s this unspoken pressure on writers to crank out books on a fairly regular, repeating basis. To be clear, no one demands it of us; it’s more of an unspoken self-imposed peer pressure. You look around and all your colleagues are writing a book a year.

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Changes to the YouTube Channel and Access to Past Videos

On By benebellIn Bell Chimes In, Learn the Tarot, Magical in the Mundane, personal, personal spirituality, promotional, Sightsee the Tarot, Spirit Keeper's Tarot, Taoism, tarot, tarot community, Tinkering Bell, traditional witchcraft7 Comments

In an effort to curate the publicly visible videos on the Benebell Wen YouTube channel, many past videos are now unlisted but still publicly available via the Playlists tab.

For a ballpark sense of how many videos are now unlisted, as of this posting only 129 of 405 total videos are publicly visible in the general Videos tab and thus only those 129 videos are searchable on the YouTube platform.

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Lady of the Nine Heavens and the I Ching

On By benebellIn Fu talismans, I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), Magical in the Mundane, personal, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, traditional witchcraft9 Comments

This video is part of a companion course series leading up to the release of my third book, I Ching, The Oracle. I’ve covered this topic previously here, “Mysterious Lady of the Ninth Heaven (Jiu Tian Xuan Nü, 九天玄女).” However, given the personal relevance, we’re revisiting the Lady of the Nine Heavens, now within the context of my Purpose for publishing this new translation of the Book of Changes.

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Tarot Deck Personification (cf. Animism?)

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, opinion, personal20 Comments
Per usual, random photos of decks interspersed throughout the post to keep visual interest.

Yesterday I was invited to live-chat with the Three Fat Readers and one of the topics that came up was deck personification. You can watch a replay of it here.

The timing of our sit-down together coincided with a greater conversation that’s been trending in our community as of late. Tarot Readings From a Bitch covers the controversy succinctly here and gets the ball rolling by asking the question.

I very much enjoyed ScholarBot’s perspective and explanation for not personifying tarot decks, linked here.

Robyn’s Reflections shares why and how she personifies some decks and not others here.

Lisa and Dawn Michelle chat about deck personification here.

This particular issue recycles in the tarot community every so often, so if you go back five years, you can see this video by Katey Flowers on personifying tarot decks.

Since the opening premise of the tarot deck I created, the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot, was to explore and experiment with the concept of animism, I thought I might chime in. To that end, I’d like to separate out the discussion on deck personification and the discussion on animism.

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Orange Peel and Rice Powder DIY to Treat Hyperpigmentation

On By benebellIn holistic food, Magical in the Mundane, personal8 Comments

I wanted to put this out there in hopes that someone googling for this info will find my post. So yes, topically it’s a bit outside my beaten path here on this blog.

I made my own citrus peel powder + rice grains powder face treatment to deal with hyperpigmentation and texture concerns, applied it twice daily for 100 consecutive days, and am now sharing my thoughts.

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